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Former Georgia DL Bill Norton picks Arizona as transfer destination

On3 imageby: Jake Rowe12/19/22JakeMRowe
On3 image
Photo credit Perry McIntyre.

The only Georgia player to enter the transfer portal since the window opened on December 5 has found a new home. Defensive tackle Bill Norton has made it known that he will continue his college career at Arizona.

The Memphis, Tenn. native has appeared in every game this season as a reserve defensive lineman and special teamer. He has amassed three solo tackles and one tackle for a loss in those 13 games this year.

Norton has appeared in at least three games in each of his four seasons at Georgia. He played in three in 2019, maintaining his ability to redshirt. He got into four games as a redshirt freshman in 2020 and six games last season as the Bulldogs went on a National Championship run.

His career at UGA has seen him rack up 12 total tackles along with 3.5 tackles for loss.

Norton will have two years of eligibility left. He has his fifth-year senior season coming up and he can get a sixth season as a super senior in 2024 should he find the right landing spot and choose to keep on playing.

Georgia signed Bill Norton in the 2019 class out of Christian Brothers School in Memphis, Tenn. He was the highest-rated of three defensive linemen signed out of Tennessee in that class. The other two were Tymon Mitchell, who is now at TCU, and Zion Logue, Georgia’s starting nose tackle.

He was rated as a four-star prospect by the On3 Consensus. Bill Norton was the nation’s No. 157 overall prospect and No. 21 defensive lineman per those rankings. He was the No. 4 prospect in Tennessee. The Bulldogs had to beat out some big-time programs for his signature with Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma and Penn State all offering and pursuing. Some schools were recruiting him heavily as a defensive lineman while also knowing that he had upside as an offensive tackle.

“We try to build it where they want to be part of our program,” Kirby Smart said when asked about the portal on Sunday. “If they don’t, then I certainly acknowledge that it’s an opportunity…

“…you’re always going to look, and people try to reach out once they go in the portal. It’s there. They have people on staff at Ohio State, and we’ve got people on our staff that are going to be constantly looking through there and watching tape, evaluating it.

But the focus is on our team. It wouldn’t be fair to all the guys playing if you weren’t focused on your team. So you can’t put a ton of focus and attention to looking for kids in the portal and things like that.”

Georgia will take on Ohio State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl and College Football Playoff semifinal on December 31. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and the Bulldogs opened as the seven-point favorite on Sunday.

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